Process of producing metallic iron and alkaline salts.



EDWIN C. ECKEL, OF \VASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING METALLIC IRON AND ALKALINE SALTS.

No Drawing.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed Apr! 3, 1911.

Patcntcdllctaliz,1911.

Serial No. 618.611.

[b.all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN C. Emma, a citizen of the United States, residing at. 'ashington, District. of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Prmlueing Metallic. Iron and Alkaline Salts, of which the following is a specification.

This invention comprises a process for the simultaneous production of metallic iron and alkaline salts.

The process is one in which metallic iron (pig iron) and alkaline salts (principally potassium carbonate) are produced simultam-.otlsly by the fusion of a mixture consisting essentially of silica, lime carbonate, iron oxid and potassiiuu. So far as my knowledge goes, this metallurgical opcration has never becn attempted or even suggcstcd prior to my invention thereof. It is technically feasible and commercially profitable.

The raw materials preferably employed as constituents of the mixture are glauconite and limestone. (ilauconite is a silicate of iron and potassium, occurrinL naturally in extensive deposits which a re at present practically unused for any purpose. ()mitting mat-essential ingredients, its average composition is about 50% silica, 30") iron ()Xitl, (5% potassium, some phosphorus, and 10%,- water. Aluinina is also usually present. as an impurity. It has heretofore never been regarded as a possible commercial source of metallic iron, owing to its relatively low percentage of iron oxid and high pcrccntage of silica. But. the oonnnercial i|n u':n:ticability disappears when it issh own that it is feasible to extract both iron and potassium from it in a single operation, and this i have been able to accomplish.

The [in-mess em'ployed includes the fusion, in a furnace of suitable construction, of a mixture of glaueoniteand limestone; the tapping off of tlie. molten iron and of the fused slag separately; and the recovery of alkaline salts, principally potassium carbonate, from the gases evolved during the smelting process.

In practiee,assuming for the moment that an ordinary blast-furnace is used, it will be charged with glauconite, limestone and coke The amount of limestone in the charge war he sufiicient to form a readily fusible'slag when combined with the silica and alumina of the glauconitc and the ash of the coke.

'lhe nmountof coke to be used will be that sutlicient to accomplish reduction and fusion. in using the word charge I do.not wish to be understood as implying that. the process is necessarily an intermittent one, practiced on individual harges; on the contrary, if an ordinary btast-furnmtc. is employed, the process may be absolutely continuous. Also, though mentioning coke as the fuel, and lion-ston as the tlnx employed in this illustration, l cxprcssly state that other fuels or other lluxes could be cmploycd without in any way passing out. of the tield of this invention and process. When the charge. made up of yraw materials as above described. is heated to a proper state of fusion, the iron contained in its constituents will be reduced, and sink to the bottom of the furnace in a molten state; the silica, limc, ctc., \\'ill combine as a fusible slag floating on the iron; and the volatile potassium, sodium, etc, will join the products of combustion lll gaseousform. The metallic iron is lapped oil; the slag is drawn in similar fashion; and the alkaline salts are recover-(at from the gas-cs. This last; mentioned step in the operation may be accomplished by either wet or-dry methods, or by a combination of 'lmtli. in practice it will be probahl; anost economical, under ordinary conditions; to extract the potassium by means of a dust-catcher, taking advantage of the fact that as the gases cool in passing away from the furnace, the potassium will condenlse in fine particles, usually in the form of mbtassium carbonate. The bulk of the potassium originally contained in the charge can be recovered very inexpensively in this way. \Vet methods of extracting or recovering it from the gases 'are of course theoretically more satisfnetor 'but in practice the dry recovery will pro ablybe found most profitable.

W'hcn a,furnace is run on a mixture of glauconite, limestone and coke, as assumed in the preceding iltustration, the relative proportions of the three different raw materials might be about as followsrten tons of glauconite, seven and a half tons of tune- 'stone. and five tons of coke. Treating these quantities as making up a separate charge of twenty-two and a half tons of raw material, this charge will yield slightl over two tons of pig-iron, and considcrab y over a ton of potassium carbonate. It will also yield, incidentally, about ten tons of slag.

As (his slug will have the approxiiimtc corn E kalinc salts,

position 53); silica, 3% alumina and 44% p l lime, it will be serviceable as a raw mull-rial f are rolatihzed, and recovering said salts uvulrcd.

in various industries.

It may he added that, owing in the you ccntage of lillusphuf'lt? acnl usuallyconlinnml by glauconite, the pig-iron produced by this 1 process will be normally a high-plmspliorus pig, specially suited for Lhc lnisie Bessemer process and for other uses. It commercially desirable, the proce s can be modified by adding as a fourth ingredient. of the charge, a certain percentage of iron ore, with the object of increasing the iron yield or of varying the phosphorus conlent of the pig. Having lhus descrilxad my invention, what:-

I claim as new and desire to secure by Let-- ters Patent is:

1 The process of producing iron and alkaliuc salts, comprising fusing a natural alkaline iron silicate with fuel and a flux until the iron is reduced and the alkaline salts are volatilizcd, and recovering said salts evolved.

2. The process of producing iron and alcomprising fusing glauconite with reducing and tluxin" materials until the iron is reduced and fiic alkaline salts 2;. 'l he prucess of producing pig-iron and mtassiuni salts. comprising fusin a mixiure of a natural polassiuni-iron silicate, flux and fuel until the iron is reduced and the potassium salts are driven OK as gas, drawlug all the molten iron, and recovering said salts from the gas.

4. The process" of producing iron and potassium salts, COll1])i$lllg fusing a mixture coulaining gluuconite, limestone and fuel until the iron is reduced and the potussilnn salts are evolved, separating the ninlLc-n iron from the mass, and recovering the said salls so evolved.

ln testimony whereof, I allix Ill) signature in presence of two wilncsscs.

EDWIN ECKEL.

Witnesses:

Gian. I). T aw, C. \V. Fou'iii-i-n. 

